"Chinese Barbarian Officials' in Foreign Missions

 

To understand the origin of the "Chinese barbarian officials," one has to examine the Chinese international order in the Ming Dynasty, especially the 2 basic policies governing foreign relations and overseas trade:

 

1. The prohibition order imposed during the early years of Hung-wu (1363-98) - It banned all private overseas trade and excluded people from contacts with foreign traders, from using foreign commodities, and from going overseas. It was a measure to strengthen the security of coastal regions against the harassment of pirates as well as means to put a monopology of the lucrative foreign trade into government hands.

 

2. The restoration of the traditional tributary system and the accommodation of foreign trade within this system - It provided the regulation of itnercourse between China and foreign nations under which the latter were treated as vassal states of China, and, in recognizing Chinese overlordship, dispatched tributary missions at a prescribed period.

 

Most of the "Chinese barbarian officials" were originally natives of the coastal provinces, particularly Fujian, who traditionally benefited by overseas trade. Unlike the scholarly-gentry class, they were men of humble origin: sailor, fishermen, salt pedlars, and the like. Most of them, probably as an excuse, claimed that they drifted to these foreign lands while sailing at sea. That they aspired to return home was only too natural: not only would they have the opportunity to engage in foreign trade, but they could also return home without fear of persecution. Under the prohibition order, severe punishment would be inflicted on people who were found to have gone overseas, but in their capacity as officials of a vassal state, they were seldom tried before the law. On the other hand, they were usually well-received by the imperial court. They were accorded official honours and lavish rewards, and if they wished to settle down in their native land, they were usually given permission, with provisions of ration and transport.

 

How did these Chinese residents of these far-off lands enter the service of their residential rulers?

 

1. Some might win the favour of their king by proven ability or superior cultural attainment and became an official in the government

 

2. Other might have been taken into the service because they possessed certain unique qualifications, e.g. their knowledge of the Chinese language which enabled them to become interpreters.

 

What were in the mind of the rules of the foreign lands when they appointed Chinese residents to the tributary mission?

 

1. It must have been expedient to have people on the staff conversant with the Chinese language for communication and for composing the credentials in a form calculated to impress the imperial court

 

2. The Chiense must have been more familiar with the situation inside China than any others, hence in a more advantageous position to conduct diplomatic exchanges and trading matters.

 

3. Such appointments might convince the Chinese court of their high regard for the overseas Chinese and their noble treatment of them, expecting greater favours in return.

 

How did the Ming court react to the presence of these "barbarian officials"? On the whole, the attitude was cool:

 

1. There had been a law prohibiting people from going overseas, and these "barbarian officials," whatever their excuse, had defied or at least impeached the commandment.

 

2. The arrival of these people, with an intimate knowledge of China, also incurred the suspicion of the court about the motive of their vassal kings. Could they be the spy agents of the rule of a distant land?

 

3. The disorderly conduct of some of these "barbarian officials," aroused grave concern.

 

4. Some of these "barbarian officials" seemed to come to China with the sole purpose of trading under the cloak of the tributary mission and exacting privileges.

 

5. The humble social origin of these people also invited the contempt of the Chinese officials who were brought up in the literary tradition of Confucian officialdom.

 

So all in all, the Ming officials considered these "barbarian officials" injurious to the interests of the state.

 

Reference:

Chan, H.-L. (1968). The "Chinese barbarian officials" in the foreign tributary missions to China during the Ming Dynasty. Journal of the American Oriental Society, 88(3), 411-418.

 

As to the Chinese prejudice against their own countrymen who "drifted" overseas, it could be understood only in the light of the traditional Chinese contempt for people who engaged in enterprises other than literature and scholarship.